Can someone help me buy / build a trading computer

P

priyanknevatia

Hello Everyone,
After carefully evaluating my options, I have decided to go hunting for a trading desktop with multiple monitors. My budget is quite small ($1000) so I am asking all you fellow elitetrader members to help me find / build a trading desktop within my budget. Any help is much appreciated.

My preference
Intel i5 processor
2-3 monitors
8 GB Ram
80 - 120 GB SSD

I will upgrade as and when I can upgrade next year from my profits.

Please let me know if you know where I can buy refurbished or cheap trading computers with the above specs. I dont mind building it too.

Thanks
Priyank
 
check out the dell outlet. the deals are kinda hit or miss but just check it once a day and you might be able to say a few hundred. make sure you use dell business not the consumer side since the support is from the u.s. and not outsourced to india.
 
If you're going to build one, I suggest building it backwards.

Start at the monitors. How many and at what resolution.

Then you need graphics cards in sufficient quantity to push the monitors at that minimum resolutio (or higher).

Then you need a mobo what will allow those graphics cards with their interface.

Now look at CPU and RAM.

Then use an online calculator to see what size power supply you need.

Find a box to put it all in. Get a OS and have at it.
 
I read a very detailed thread of building your own trading computer on elitetrader and it sounded interesting. However I am worried about troubleshooting ... I am good with computers but dont have the time and patience to sit and figure it all out by myself. Specially BIOS and CPU cooling.

I am on a tight budget of $1000 and would like a 2 monitor trading workstation. If someone can help me buy one that's be great.
 
I suggest check out the used/refurbished Dell workstations WTS5400/7400 on Dell financial services page.
Comes with uption to upgrade to dual processors. comes with ECC rams. dual PCI express slots and plenty of room to upgrade.
Has the same 90day default warranty.

I have one and is faster than my i7 desktop. here is the link
http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/dell/ctl641/cp30421/cl2/precision

If you wait around a week or so you will see few than come in with 16gig ECC rams. most prcessor on higher models are quad core xenons.

Before you purchase them check out Deals2buy.com for discount coupons for DFS site. they usually have 25-35% coupons on the listed price.

GL
 
Quote from priyanknevatia:

I read a very detailed thread of building your own trading computer on elitetrader and it sounded interesting. However I am worried about troubleshooting ... I am good with computers but dont have the time and patience to sit and figure it all out by myself. Specially BIOS and CPU cooling.

I am on a tight budget of $1000 and would like a 2 monitor trading workstation. If someone can help me buy one that's be great.
More...

Buy 2 laptops and one extra monitor.Some 4GB laptops are less that $400.Toshiba would be my choice.
Don't over think the hardware that is not how you make money trading.
 
I sent OP a PM, I'm about to post this in classifieds FS:

Dell Precision 490 Workstation

2x Xeon 5060 CPUs @ 3.2ghz

4-physical cores, 8 threads (two dual-core with HT CPUs)

8GB RAM DDR2-ECC

DVD + Floppy

4x 36GB 10kRPM WD Raptor HDD - can be RAID5 or RAID10

W7x64
Office 2007 Pro (full install)
Acrobat 9.0 Pro
SnagIT Screen Capture software

I'll warranty the machine for 36 months - happy to provide references on & off ET.

$600
 
Many seemed to recommend Dell desktops. All I want to say is: check the available expansion slots. If you have only one PCIe X16 slots (as this is common with most desktop models these days), to drive 3+ monitor you would need to purchase a quad video card. And quad cards are expensive. Can be looking at USD $500 for the video card itself and this will blow your $1000 budget right out of the water. Though perhaps you can use a USB-to-VGA adapter to drive a third monitor with a dual card. Just something to think about.
 
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